Switching back to Windows 11 && Softwares that I use

Intro #

Recently I’ve dealt with a lot of bugs/problems on my NixOS installation, and I’ve decided to switch to another operating system that “just works” – (Dual booting) Windows 11

Installation #

The installation part is just boring, everyone knows how to shrink a partition and install Windows. Just skip to the next part.

Keep in mind you might want to build your installation ISO using tiny11bulider.

Post-Installation #

To actually make Windows 11 usable :-)

• (Obviously) Install drivers for your device

• Enable BitLocker and Secure Boot

• Enable DoH (DNS over HTTPS)

  Settings -> Network & Ethernet -> Wi-Fi -> Hardware properties -> DNS server management

• Disable fast startup (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dual_boot_with_Windows#Fast_Startup_and_hibernation)

  Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Power Options -> System Settings -> Disable “Turn on fast startup”.

• UTC in Microsoft Windows (https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System_time#UTC_in_Microsoft_Windows)

  Run reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation" /v RealTimeIsUniversal /d 1 /t REG_DWORD /f as admin.

• Privacy stuff

  • privacy.sexy scripts

  • WPD

    (winget install WPD.WPD)

  • StevenBlack hosts

• CompactGUI, compresses files transparently.

• Dependencies

  • Visual C++ Redistributable Runtimes

    (winget install Microsoft.VCRedist.2015+.x64, 2015+ is enough.)

  • .NET Desktop Runtime

    (winget install Microsoft.DotNet.DesktopRuntime.6 Microsoft.DotNet.DesktopRuntime.8)

  • Adoptium OpenJDK (Mostly for Minecraft)

    (winget install EclipseAdoptium.Temurin.8.JRE EclipseAdoptium.Temurin.17.JRE)

Applications #

All software that I mentioned below is fully FOSS (Free and open source software) :-)

LibreWolf #

(winget install 9NVN9SZ8KFD7)

A privacy-focused browser that just works.

Based on Firefox, no telemetry works OOTB (out-of-the-box).

I also recommend using SearXNG as your search engine.

I don’t use Firefox + Arkenfox literally because I’m just too lazy to download and install another file.

VSCodium #

(winget install VSCodium.VSCodium)

Open-source software binaries of VSCode.

BitWarden #

(winget install 9PJSDV0VPK04)

Cross-platform password manager with online sync.

NanaZip #

(winget install 9N8G7TSCL18R)

Fork of the classic 7-zip, now supports Windows 11 context menu and packaging with MSIX.

PrismLauncher #

(winget install PrismLauncher.PrismLauncher)

Clean, fast, easy-to-use Minecraft launcher.

Based on MultiMC, powerful than ever.

Multi-instance management, modpack downloads, one-click mod updates.

Unigram #

(winget install 9N97ZCKPD60Q)

Telegram client based on UWP.

Ultra smooth. I prefer it over the official Qt-based client.

Cinny #

(winget install cinnyapp.cinny-desktop)

Matrix client with calm visual.

Mumble #

(winget install Mumble.Mumble.Client)

Simple VoIP software, great alternative to TeamSpeak.